JPH03135607A - Guiding device for self-traveling work vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the facility investment of a self-traveling work vehicle by providing a control part which applies the steering control to the vehicle so as to secure the coincidence between the mean direction stored in a storage part and the direction detected by a direction sensor. CONSTITUTION:A self-traveling mowing machine 1 travels and the magnetic sensors 6 and 7 pass over the magnets 6. Then the sensors 6 and 7 reach the upper parts between the magnets 5 and are unable to detect these magnets 5. In such a case, the mean direction stored in a storage part 10 is called out and at the same time a control signal is outputted to a steering device 11 from a guide controller 12 to perform the steering control so that the coincidence is secured between the mean direction and the direction detected by a direction sensor 8. Thus the machine 1 travels straight along an extended line of the magnet 5 that is detected at an immediately preceding stage. Then the machine 1 travels further and the sensors 6 and 7 detect the next magnets 5 respectively. Thus the steering control of the machine 1 is restarted based on the detecting results of both sensors 6 and 7. As a result, the facility investment of the machine 1 is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a guidance device for an autonomous working vehicle.

Conventional technologyCurrently, autonomous driving vehicles for uneven terrain are being developed that apply autonomous vehicle control technology to carry out tasks such as mowing lawns unmanned within golf course courses without the need for operators to operate them. Development and practical application are underway.

In addition, the guidance system for automated driving vehicles involves burying a continuous magnetic material or a continuous induction cable through which a low-frequency current is passed underground, and installing sensors on the automated driving vehicle to detect these derivatives. It is common for an automatic traveling work vehicle to travel along the guide based on the detection results from the sensor.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In a vast place such as a golf course, a large amount of capital investment is required to bury a continuous derivative underground along the trajectory of an automated driving vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problem A large number of derivatives are intermittently buried underground along the trajectory of the automatic traveling work vehicle, and a sensor detects the derivatives and an orientation detects the traveling direction of the automatic travel vehicle. a sensor provided in the automatic traveling work vehicle, a calculation unit that calculates an average direction by calculating an average value of detection results of the direction sensor when the sensor is detecting the derivative, and a calculation unit that stores the mean direction. A storage section is provided to control the steering of the self-driving work vehicle based on the detection result from the sensor, and when the sensor is unable to detect the derivative, the average direction stored in the storage section is A control unit is provided to control the steering of the automatic traveling work vehicle so that the orientation detected by the orientation sensor matches the orientation.

When the action sensor is detecting the induction body, the automatic steering of the automatic traveling work vehicle is performed by the steering control by the control unit based on the detection result from the sensor.

In addition, when the direction sensor detects the direction of movement of the autonomous work vehicle and the sensor detects a guide, the average value of the detection results from the direction sensor is calculated as the average direction by calculation in the calculation section. , this average orientation is stored in the storage unit. Then, when the self-driving work vehicle intermittently travels between the buried guides and the sensor cannot detect the guide, the average direction and direction sensor stored in the memory section will detect the guide. Steering control is performed by the control unit so that the direction coincides with the direction in which the vehicle is moving, and automatic steering of the automatic traveling work vehicle is performed.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

A mower 4 is attached to the abdomen of an automatically traveling lawn mower 1, which is an automatically traveling work vehicle, so as to be located between a front wheel 2 and a rear wheel 3 and whose position can be adjusted in the vertical direction. On the other hand, a large number of magnets 5, which are derivatives, are intermittently buried underground in the work area where the self-driving lawn mower 1 travels, along the trajectory on which the self-driving lawn mower 1 travels automatically. As shown in FIG. 4, the magnets 5 buried at the end of the work area are buried in a semicircular arc shape, and the other magnets 5 are buried in a straight line shape. Furthermore, the spacing between the magnets 5 is set very short between the semicircular arc-shaped magnet 5 and the linear magnet 5, but the spacing between the linear magnets 5 is set wide. .

Next, a pair of left and right magnetic sensors 6.7, which are sensors for detecting the magnetism generated by the magnet 5, are provided at the front lower part of the automatic traveling lawn mower 1. is provided with an orientation sensor 8 which is located above where it is not affected by the magnetism from the magnet 5- and which detects the traveling direction of the automatic mower 1 by detecting earth's magnetism.

The self-driving lawnmower 1 includes a calculation unit 9 that calculates an average direction by calculating the average value of the detection results of the direction sensor 8 while the magnetic sensor 6°7 is detecting the magnet 5 while traveling. The storage unit 10 that stores this average orientation and the detection results from the left and right magnetic sensors 6.7 are compared to generate a control signal for positioning the magnet 5 at the center of the left and right magnetic sensors 6.7. It is output to the steering device 11 that steers the front wheels 2, and is also output to the storage unit 10 when the magnetic sensor 6.7 cannot detect the magnet 5.
a guidance controller 1 which is a control unit that outputs a control signal to the steering device 11 to match the average bearing stored in the azimuth with the azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor 8;
A control device 13 comprising: 2 is provided.

In addition to the magnetic sensor 6.7 and the direction sensor 8, this control device 13 also includes an inclination sensor 14 for detecting the inclination angle of the aircraft, and a distance sensor 15 for measuring the travel distance.
, a contact sensor 16 and an ultrasonic sensor 17 for detecting obstacles, and an engine rotation speed sensor 19 for detecting the rotation speed of the engine 18 are connected to the control device 13.
The steering device 11, the continuously variable transmission 20, the brake device 21, and the lifting device 2 of the mower 4 are controlled by
2nd grade is connected.

In such a configuration, when performing lawn mowing work using the automatic traveling lawn mower 1, the automatic traveling lawn mower 1 is caused to travel along the buried magnet 5 from a starting point. When it starts running, the magnetic sensor 6.7 detects the first magnet 5, and a control signal based on this detection result is output from the induction controller 12 to the steering device 11, and the automatic mower 1 uses the left and right magnetic fields. Magnet 5 in the center of sensor 6.7
The vehicle runs under automatic steering control to position the vehicle.

At this time, the direction sensor 8 detects the direction of movement of the automatic lawnmower l, and the average direction, which is the average value of the detection results, is calculated in the calculation section 9, and the obtained average direction is stored in the storage section 10. is memorized.

The self-driving lawnmower 1 moves forward, and the magnetic sensor 6.7 detects the magnet 5.
passes above and reaches above between the magnets 5,
When the magnet 5 can no longer be detected, the average heading stored in the storage unit IO is called up, and the steering control is performed so that the average heading matches the heading detected by the heading sensor 8. The control signal is the induction controller 1
2 to the steering device 11, and the self-driving lawn mower l moves straight along the extension line of the magnet 5 that has been detected until just before.

When the self-driving lawn mower 1 moves further and the magnetic sensor 6.7 detects the next magnet 5, the steering of the self-driving lawn mower 1 based on the detection result from the magnetic sensor 6.7 is restarted. Ru. On the other hand, the average azimuth stored in the storage unit 10 is canceled, and the calculation of the average azimuth based on the detection result of the azimuth sensor 8 and its storage are restarted.

In addition, when traveling from the semicircular arc-shaped magnet 5 toward the linear magnet 5 at the edge of the work area, the distance between these magnets 5 is set to be extremely short, so the self-driving lawn mower l The vehicle runs smoothly along these magnets 5 without losing sight of the direction in which it should run.

Effects of the Invention The present invention, as described above, intermittently buries a large number of derivatives underground along the trajectory of the automatic traveling work vehicle,
By running an autonomous work vehicle along these derivatives, the amount of capital investment can be significantly reduced compared to the case where continuous derivatives are buried along the travel trajectory. A sensor that detects, an azimuth sensor that detects the direction of movement of the autonomous working vehicle, a calculation unit that calculates the average value of the detection results of the azimuth sensor as the average azimuth when the sensor detects a guide, and a memory that stores the average azimuth. When the sensor is detecting a derivative, the controller is operated based on the detection result from the sensor to control the steering of the autonomous driving vehicle, and when the sensor is unable to detect the derivative, By operating the control unit and controlling the steering so that the average orientation stored in the memory unit and the orientation detected by the orientation sensor coincide, even though the guide was buried intermittently. Regardless, it has the effect of being able to reliably automatically travel along a predetermined travel trajectory.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 is a front view, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control system, and Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the state in which the magnet is buried. be. 1... Self-driving work vehicle, 5... Derivative, 6, 7...
・Sensor, 8...Direction sensor, 9...Calculation unit, 10
...Storage section, 12...Control section Applicant Ishikawajima Shibaura Machinery Co., Ltd. Figure f5

Claims (1)

[Claims] A large number of guides are intermittently buried underground along the trajectory of the automatic traveling work vehicle, and a sensor for detecting the derivatives and a direction sensor for detecting the traveling direction of the automatic traveling work vehicle are installed during the automatic traveling work. a calculation unit which is provided in the vehicle and calculates an average value of the detection results of the orientation sensor when the sensor is detecting the guide body to obtain an average orientation; and a storage unit which stores the average orientation; Steering control of the automatic traveling work vehicle is performed based on the detection result from the sensor, and when the sensor cannot detect the guide body, the average direction stored in the storage unit and the direction sensor detect 1. A guidance device for an automatic traveling work vehicle, comprising: a control unit that controls the steering of the automatic travel vehicle so that the automatic travel vehicle is aligned with the direction in which the automatic travel vehicle is located.